Finally : cheap DIY selfmade solar cell with common materials !

[mdmiller]

titanium dioxide seen in the youtube vids of people experimenting with the Graetzel raspberry cell is used by your local pottery makers as an opacifier.  it's pretty cheap ($10 a pound) and readily available, they will also have zinc oxide ZnO ($6 a pound) , but your can usually buy much smaller quantities than a pound.  ZnO as a pigment is noted in this patent for use in the n-doping of the outer paint layer.  He notes the pigment should not exceed 50 to 80 percent by volume so the layer is not opaque.   Polyurethane is a binder he mentions.

If I understand it correctly, the goal is to get the p-layer electron holes in the first layer of black paint to be filled by excess electrons from the n-layer of the outside yellow paint, thus they must migrate through the p-n junction,  i.e. achieve electron flow.

the beauty of this thin film paint solution is the elimination of the electrolyte (and the simplicity of manufacture, of course)

[triffid]

Zinc oxide can be made at home in very small amounts.Two zinc plated bolts in a solution of(put in some baking soda) baking soda and water.Run a dc (12 volts or less)current through it
and the white layer that forms on one bolt is zinc oxide.Triffid

[triffid]

zinc oxide is conductive just like tin oxide.Triffid

[Doug1]

 I bagged a wide format printer needs some minor repairs when it gets here but it will make experimenting with the printing of the cells a little more practical. Screen printing Ive done and it makes too much mess. I can hopefully avoid divorce court with a printer and it can earn a little bit of money to pay for itself.
   Pottery suppliers have thinned out around here, left with ordering from NY city. Thats where I got all the zirconium I have left over from another project. I will have to check the cat for the other items. Less expensive then the raw metals from the sound of it.
    I remember a time the solar industry had a write up leading readers to believe they would be producing kits or supplies to produce printed cells from an inkjet printer. That was a long time ago and while they have continued to work with some advancements they appear to be geared only to the commercial production of the cells not to the public having access to it. In retrospect I guess that was stupid on my part to think they were going to start shifting from manufacture to supply and leave the manufacture to the general public. Car wraps could become PV wraps ,roofs could go back to being made of metal and they could be wrapped. Coat the underside of long sheets with peltier dots and use it to not only block the sun but to cool the underside and use the sheets to stop the coastal ice from melting away at the north or south poles. Float a cover over a man made water reseviour to supply a community with the power to run a  pump station and the water itself can be used as a geothermal tank for heating and cooling plus it supplies you with water. You could spend all day thinking of stuff you could use it for and it doesn't have to be all that efficient if the source of the energy is free from the sun. With all the possible uses you would think they be working a little bit harder and a bit faster to perfect this technology. If it was a drug to make you stop sneezing but had the possible side effects of making your winky fall off or leakage from your anus they would have have had it going on in twenty minutes.

[Doug1]

Hay they do have a lot of stuff and a online store. Pottery supplies.
chemistry smorgasbord http://www.7ceramic.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=CHEM_100
  I see Tin and titanium oxides and a lot cheaper then the way I was gonna go.Wow they have a lot of nasty's on there are they making pottery or fire works.